The Denver-based Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking has released fourteen recommendations to strengthen Colorado’s response to human trafficking. Among them: form a statewide group of prosecutors focused on trafficking, create a prevention campaign targeted at vulnerable populations, and encourage the development of local coalitions dedicated to the issue. The recommendations…
Shortly after his arrival in the Colorado prison system, a mentally stable teenager named Sam Mandez landed in solitary confinement for a series of minor rules infractions. He soon began to experience auditory hallucinations and other signs of mental illness, and his erratic behavior made it impossible for him to…
In July, we published an item headlined “Jeffrey Johnston, veteran Littleton cop — and ecstasy dealer on the side?” The answer to that question is “yes.” And the person confirming it is Johnston himself. The now-former officer has pleaded guilty to two charges in relation to his bust earlier this…
Back in May, we told you about DNA evidence that led to charges against Dony Salazar for a rape that took place back in 2000. Now, improved DNA technology has resulted in a bust for an even older crime — the sexual assault of a fourteen year old way back…
If you happened to tune into cable news or talk radio or any other variety of media late last week for the first time in fourteen or fifteen years, you might think things were stuck in an endless loop. There was that harpy Nancy Grace, grilling forensic whiz Henry Lee…
If there’s one type of person we should be able to rely on in this crazy world of ours, it’s a guy we met online who wants to buy a monkey. Okay, maybe not, as a Missouri woman learned the hard way. Police say the woman was pepper sprayed and…
Update: Since we told you about the attempted kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl from her Aurora bedroom early yesterday morning (see our previous coverage below), local authorities have made the still-unknown perpetrator their highest priority. In addition to releasing a sketch of the suspect in conjunction with a press conference…
Late last night, a report of shots fired in Commerce City resulted in an ugly accident. Specifically, a train hit and dragged a car that the shooting suspects had used in a failed attempt to escape. Although three people have been arrested, there are a lot of unanswered questions at…
Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett is one of the most open and accessible elected officials in the state — but in the matter of newly released true bills accusing John and Patsy Ramsey of culpability in the 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey, their daughter, he’s keeping mum, with his only…
We’d like nothing better than for our Mile High Murder archive to be starved of content — but that’s definitely not the case this week. We’ve already posted about the killing of John Goggin, for which Floyd Sandoval has been arrested, and the death of Vincente Penaloza and the ongoing…
When he was arrested earlier this week, Eugene Martinez was listed as Colorado’s most wanted sex offender — and he’s not the only person accused of such crimes to be rounded up lately. Indeed, nineteen of the top 100 most wanted sex offenders in the state have either been busted…
A number of high-profile crime reports have emanated from the CU-Boulder campus over the past couple of months. By comparison, the main Colorado State University complex in Fort Collins has been relatively quiet. No more. Late last night, a woman reported being sexually assaulted at knifepoint on a CSU athletic…
Police responding to a call from a concerned mom about her possibly suicidal son wind up shooting him four times — yet the student is facing a criminal charge? That’s the scenario in the case of Jordan Koehn, a 24-year-old CSU graduate student who pointed a gun at his own…
Way back in 2009, we posted about the risk of explosion when making butane hash oil indoors. But some people continue to do so, with sometimes disastrous results. Example: an explosion and fire at a residence in the small town of Carr, Colorado that reportedly lifted the roof off the…
Update: Earlier this month, we reported about a light-rail attack caught on camera near 30th and Downing — the third assault at such a station in the past few months. See our previous coverage below. The latest: Leopoldo Maes, 23, is the fifth and presumably final person to be arrested…
UPDATE: A jury sentenced Floyd Sandoval to life in prison for the murder of John Goggin in October 2014. At trial, prosecutors elaborated on Sandoval’s motives, saying that he shot Goggin during a pot deal gone wrong. Sandoval’s codefendent, Jose Palacio, is set to go on trial later this month…
Vincente Penaloza’s name appeared in the New York Times yesterday — but only because he died a violent death. He’s briefly mentioned in a gun report among dozens of people nationwide killed by firearms over the weekend. But Penaloza is not merely a stat. He’s a man whose life was…
What would happen if law enforcers stopped hundreds of cars over the course of a couple days? How many criminals and how much contraband might they find? A Colorado State Patrol-described “large-scale law-enforcement operation” just conducted in Mesa County provides an idea: over a hundred citations, a handful of fugitives…
Update: Earlier this month, we told you about the escape of convicted sex offender Eugene Martinez from Denver police headquarters; he’d been handcuffed to a bench but managed to slip his bonds. See our previous coverage below. Now, Martinez has been taken into custody once again, but not before allegedly…
It was eleven years ago today — October 18, 2002 — that inmate Edward Montour Jr. attacked Eric Autobee, a 23-year-old correctional officer, in the kitchen of the Limon prison, fatally bludgeoning him with a heavy ladle. To mark that grim anniversary, the victim’s parents have made a startling plea…
Update: Earlier this week, Zachary Cooper was arrested in regard to a homicide near the intersection of 28th and Adams near City Park; see our previous coverage below. Now, we’ve obtained the arrest affidavit in the case, and the narrative is shocking. According to the document, also shared here, Cooper…
Although we frequently hear warnings about the dangers of striking or shaking a baby, we seldom see footage of parents actually doing it. The case of Greeley residents Reba Doyle and Scott Liles is an exception to this rule. Footage has surfaced showing Doyle slapping her one year old and…
